Henrico’s Top Teachers – Allison Bartholomay

By Tom Lappas, Citizen Editor (Photo by Wayne Miller for the Henrico Citizen)

02/16/12

Allison Bartholomay always knew that she wanted to perform in front of an audience. She just didn’t realize that it might be composed of third-graders instead of theater-goers.

Bartholomay brings a wealth of experiences to her Johnson Elementary School classroom each day. She grew up in France and England, majored in theater and Spanish in college and does her best to incorporate some of her own life into the lives of her third-graders on a daily basis.

During her decade as a teacher (which also included time at Dumbarton and Skipwith elementaries), Bartholomay has worked with a number of students with special needs, behavioral issues and those for whom English is a second language. The key to reaching every student, she says, is building the community of the classroom and convincing students that they’re all smart in their own ways.

“That’s tough because some students may not feel that way at first,” she says. “But once that happens and they believe in themselves, they realize that anything is possible.”

It’s her constant motivation to find ways to reach each student in her class that sets Bartholomay apart.

“Ms. Bartholomay makes her students get excited about every topic, even if it would not necessarily excite them to begin with,” a colleague wrote in a nomination letter. “She teaches 21st-century skills with ease, infusing creativity and technology, breathing excitement into the Henrico curriculum.”

In addition to her full-time job, Bartholomay also teaches a course at VCU about integrating the arts into elementary curriculum. She’s familiar with the topic because she lives it every day.

“Being a theater major has helped me reach all levels of students,” she says. “If a child doesn’t understand something on paper, we’re going to act it out. If that doesn’t work, we’re going to sing it out. We’ll go out on the playground and act it out, or we’ll go somewhere on my Promothean board.”

She uses song and dance to engage students, such as having them sing “Head and Shoulders, Knees and Toes” in Spanish and performing a song about the regions of Virginia with choreography.

To challenge students, she gives them a new word to learn each day.

“I choose the hardest words I can find for third grade,” she says. “Convivial. Sagacious. And they use them, and know what they mean. It’s a thrill for me to be able to teach them something and watch them take it on to someone else.”

Her students also write weekly goals for themselves, which they keep in mini folders on their desks and use to motivate themselves and to evaluate their accomplishments.

Bartholomay credits the environment in Henrico schools with allowing her to feel comfortable and confident trying new approaches in the classroom.

“Henrico County allows you to think outside the box,” she says. “They trust that you’re an expert in your field and you can take [students] where they need to be and more.

“I feel like I walk in every day, I want to have fun, and [the students] make my day fun. So I try to teach them so that they’ll be engaged. If I’m not having fun, then I don’t feel like I’m doing my job. I’m here to teach them content, but I also want to be that voice in their head – when they’re 12 and they don’t believe in themselves, or when they’re 15 and someone is trying to lead them down the wrong path – that gives them the confidence to do the right thing.”

The Henricopolis Soil & Water Conservation District will sponsor a tree seedling giveaway on April 2 at Dorey Park Shelter 1 from 2:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. and on April 3 at Hermitage High School parking lot from 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Bare-root tree seedlings are available to Henrico County residents free of charge for the spring planting season.

The following seedling species will be available: apple, kousa dogwood, red maple, river birch, red osier dogwood, loblolly pine, sycamore, bald cypress, white dogwood and redbud. Quantities are limited and trees are available on a first-come, first-served basis. Each participant is allowed up to 10 trees total, not to include more than five of the same species. > Read more.

The Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (VDACS) recently launched an online directory of permitted bingo games played in Virginia. Listed by locality, more than 400 regular games are available across the state. The directory will be updated monthly and can be found on VDACS’ website at http://www.vdacs.virginia.gov/gaming/index.shtml.

“Many Virginia charities, including volunteer rescue squads, booster clubs and programs to feed the homeless, use proceeds from charitable gaming as a tool to support their missions, said Michael Menefee, program manager for VDACS’ Office of Charitable and Regulatory Programs. > Read more.

Richmonders Jim Morgan and Dan Stackhouse were married at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden in Lakeside Mar. 7 month after winning the Say I Do! With OutRVA wedding contest in February. The contest was open to LGBT couples in recognition of Virginia’s marriage equality law, which took effect last fall. The wedding included a package valued at $25,000.

Morgan and Stackhouse, who became engaged last fall on the day marriage equality became the law in Virginia, have been together for 16 years. They were selected from among 40 couples who registered for the contest. The winners were announced at the Say I Do! Dessert Soiree at the Renaissance in Richmond in February. > Read more.

Two events this weekend benefit man’s best friend – a rabies clinic, sponsored by the Glendale Ruritan Club, and an American Red Cross Canine First Aid & CPR workshop at Alpha Dog Club. The fifth annual Shelby Rocks “Cancer is a Drag” Womanless Pageant will benefit the American Cancer Society and a spaghetti luncheon on Sunday will benefit the Eastern Henrico Ruritan Club. Twin Hickory Library will also host a used book sale this weekend with proceeds benefiting The Friends of the Twin Hickory Library. For all our top picks this weekend, click here! > Read more.

In a spot that could be easily overlooked is a surprising, and delicious, Japanese restaurant. In a tiny nook in the shops at the corner of Ridgefield Parkway and Pump Road sits a welcoming, warm and comfortable Asian restaurant called Ichiban, which means “the best.”

The restaurant, tucked between a couple others in the Gleneagles Shopping Center, was so quiet and dark that it was difficult to tell if it was open at 6:30 p.m. on a Monday. When I opened the door, I smiled when I looked inside. > Read more.

Cinderella is the latest from Disney’s new moviemaking battle plan: producing live-action adaptations of all their older classics. Which is a plan that’s had questionable results in the past.

Alice in Wonderland bloated with more Tim Burton goth-pop than the inside of a Hot Topic. Maleficent was a step in the right direction, but the movie couldn’t decide if Maleficent should be a hero or a villain (even if she should obviously be a villain) and muddled itself into mediocrity.

Cinderella is much better. Primarily, because it’s just Cinderella. No radical rebooting. No Tim Burton dreck. It’s the 1950 Disney masterpiece, transposed into live action and left almost entirely untouched. > Read more.